


WILL YOU BE MY FRIEND?

by TheBroken



Category: citrus - サブロウタ | citrus - Saburouta
Genre: Chance Meetings, Children, Feels, Friendship, Gen, Sadness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-01
Updated: 2021-01-01
Packaged: 2021-03-10 22:54:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,465
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28454934
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheBroken/pseuds/TheBroken
Summary: On a walk in the park with her mother, Ume,five year old Okogi Yuzu wanders off and meets another little lost girl...A lonely child with violet eyes...
Comments: 8
Kudos: 23





	WILL YOU BE MY FRIEND?

The fact was, little Yuzu was one spirited, curious little girl, and a child-like that is bound to wander off sometimes, even with an attentive mother like Ume.

It was a safe place, to be sure... the park was _brimming_ with mothers' out with their children, it was a perfect day for outdoor playtime, and lots of people were off work on the weekend. An unattended child wouldn't be out of the observation of some mom or another for a single moment, and they were careful of the little ones, even those of others.

Yuzu was all prepared to meet and befriend another child to play with! She had a box of sidewalk chalk, a sturdy rubber ball, and candy stowed in her cute pink overall pockets and was ready to share all of that along with her smile and her big heart!

She looked around at all the people milling about her. No, all the children were with their parents or other groups of children, and she felt shy in groups. Perhaps if she left the main area, over toward the old playground equipment, she might find one of the kids who was left out of the groups!

She could sympathize!..

Yuzu noticed the precious little girl right away, sitting alone beneath a tree watching the other children play some distance away with a wistful, but hopeful expression on her sweet little face. She was dressed in a rather stiff and formal-looking black dress that really didn't suit the occasion, with shoes to match.

 _"I wonder if I could make friends with her?"_ Yuzu thought brightly. _"She looks like she's lonely, sitting there by herself! Maybe we_ _can play together!"_ Making her mind up quickly, in that innocent way that children possess, she boldly walked up to the girl, who regarded her bashfully and opened up with...

"Your eyes are so pretty!" Yuzu blurted out before she even thought to introduce herself. She had never seen eyes that were violet-tinged.

"I never saw eyes that color!"

The little girl blushed. "Yours are green!" she said.

Yuzu thought over that. "My Mama's are green,' she stated matter of fact, 'So my eyes are the same!" It was just simple logic- at least it is when you're...

"How old are you? I'm five!" Yuzu beamed.

The other girl got up. "I am five years of age. Born on September eleventh. I just had a birthday two weeks ago. " She waited politely for the stranger to speak again.

Yuzu was puzzled. The little girl spoke almost like she was a tiny adult. "I'm five too!" she smiled, 'August eighth! I'm a month older!" she was suddenly very proud of the age difference.

"Hmm. I guess you are. But...that's not a great deal older. " She looked down then. Yuzu perceived that she must be shy, or certainly, so it seemed.

"Did you have a good birthday?" Yuzu asked cheerfully. She was anxious to compare presents.

"My Grandfather congratulated me and my father presented me with a book." The odd child said.

Oh, dear! Yuzu quickly searched her mind for another idea. Ah, yes!..

"Would you like to play?" Yuzu asked happily. She hoped so... Yuzu didn't have any friends, despite her outgoing nature, and was definitely trying to make one.

The other regarded her seriously as if weighing the question. "Alright, then. How would we play?" She patiently awaited Yuzu's answer with the same seriousness she seemed to regard everything in. She was odd, Yuzu thought, but she seemed nice, anyway.

"Well... do you have any favorite games?" The green-eyed child was hoping to draw out the other's interests.

She looked down again. "I don't really know how to play any games!' she confessed. 'I don't know any other children... like myself." Looking away shyly again, she thought, _'There! I said it! It certainly is hard to make friends!"_

Yuzu puzzled a moment, before having a helpful thought. "I know a game! My mama taught it to me!" She pulled out her pack of colored chalk sticks. "It's called _"Tic- Tac- Toe!"_ Let's go over to the walk, and I'll show you!" The other followed her and crouched down with her at the walk, watching with intense interest as Yuzu scratched out a grid on the concrete. 

"One person draws this mark,' and here, Yuzu drew an "X", 'and the other person draws this one... " and here, she drew an "O".

"You have to get three of them in a row, any way you can, see? But the other person can block, like this!" She looked up at the violet-eyed child, who had been following her with attentiveness, and a really adorable tiny smile. Unlike Yuzu, she wasn't missing a front baby tooth!

'Would you like to play? You can choose which you want, and go first!" she added with a grand gesture.

"Yes.' came the reply. 'Thank you very much. I will be "X"!

"I'm "O", then! You move first!" Yuzu was overjoyed she had found a game to teach her new friend. This was going well.

"Do you live around here?" The green-eyed child asked.

"Not really. We just stopped here on the way home. Mother said we should take some fresh air."

" What does your mama do? "

 _"Do?"_ The strange girl was perplexed.

" Yeah! like... What's her job? My mama is an engineer-she does heavy construction! " the other said proudly.

The violet eyes looked puzzled. "She's my mother!" She stated flatly.

" Oh... " Yuzu answered. This was weird, but she went on normally to be polite. The two little girls chatted away, the dark-haired child speaking only when Yuzu prompted her with a question.

It soon became apparent that the quiet girl across from her was _"Really smart!"_ Yuzu thought. After a slightly hesitant start, she began winning game after game, her sure little hand chalking straight rows of "X's" seemingly no matter what Yuzu did. The two chatted amicably and began rapidly warming to each other despite the differences in their backgrounds, as only children can. 

After a while, she suggested another game, when the other began to look a little distracted from winning all the time.

"Do you know how to play hide and seek?" Yuzu asked.

"No... what is that?"

"It's a game where one person hides somewhere, and the other has to find them! I'll show you... see, you have to turn around and count to thirty while I hide! Then, you try to find me! Can you count to thirty?"

"Yes I can!" the other said with sureness." I can count in the _thousands!" The way she said it was just a fact, not like boastfulness._

"Wow! You are so smart, you know that?"

The dark-haired child blushed.

Yuzu shook her head in wonder and then got down to the business of her game. This was going to be great!

"Okay! This will be fun! I'm going to hide, and you'll try and find me! And if you do... I'll share my candy with you!" She held her candy out as an enticement.

The other smiled her first smile directed at Yuzu. This was getting more interesting by the moment!

"Thank you... So, I turn around, and count?" She gave one last look with her pretty eyes and, just before she began doing just that, smiled again and said...

"You're nice!"

It made Yuzu's day!

The blonde child gave her a quick and totally surprising hug, exclaimed " You're nice, too!" and turned away. The dark-haired child was perplexed-her parents didn't show physical affection toward her. _Well._..once in a while, her father _would_ pat her head. The violet-eyed girl didn't know what to make of it, except...

It made her feel as though she was _liked_ and _accepted_ by someone!

Yuzu tore off in the direction of the jungle gym, knowing exactly where she would hide, inside of the tight space under the slide. There were a dozen more obvious places... she didn't want to go too far; she was so happy to make a new friend, and couldn't wait to continue getting to know her.

"Twenty-nine... thirty!" The violet eyes opened, and the little girl turned around, immediately beginning to scan the locale for the most obvious hiding places. Her eyes quickly settled on the playground equipment; with all those little nooks and crannies, she was certain to have gone there. But which to search first? This was definitely becoming very entertaining. She had never made friends before with anyone... really, she had never had the opportunity. What a wonderful person to be her _first-ever friend!_ She had green eyes, a big smile with a missing tooth, blonde hair, a happy personality, warm hugs...

_And candy!_

_"Oh! We forgot to exchange names!"_ she thought suddenly. It had all happened so quickly, and well, it's not like it was something that happened every day... They would have to do that when she found the hidden girl!

 _"Little green-eyed girl...'_ she thought excitedly, _'I only met you today, and I don't know your name... But will you be my friend?"_

But, on to the task at hand- finding the bearer of friendship, hugs, and candy! Yes, she was certain to be in there, somewhere. She was just heading over to the playground equipment, about one hundred feet distant, when...

"Mei!" came her mother's instantly recognizable brittle voice. 'I've been looking all over for you! You mustn't wander off like that! What if you had gotten lost? Or fallen into other dangers? Come here, little lady!" The pale, slim woman fussed nervously all over the child, taking her hand firmly and directing her steps out of the park. People turned their heads and looked at Mei's mother as the formally dressed woman passed them without a glance toward anyone. Tall, slim, classic, and elegant, she really was stunning, they all agreed, but as more than one woman whispered truthfully to another:

_"That expression ruins a beautiful face!"_

Mei was flustered by her mother's interference but tried not to show it, just as she had always been _thoroughly instructed._

"Mother,' she said _politely,_ 'I just met another girl... She has green eyes!.. And she and I were just playing a game together..."

Her mother gave her a distant, disapproving look, which caused the child to immediately close up. The pressure on the little hand was very uncomfortable; _her mother was not trying to be cruel._.. _She_ _just didn't know the difference, one way, or the other._

 _"You mustn't be running off and associating with_ _**strange little green-eyed girls!** _her mother said coldly. _'It's not **proper!"**_

Mei gave a longing look back at the playground, sighed longingly, shrugged... and did what she always did when faced with disapproval- _locked her heart away and shut her pretty little lips tight in rigid silence._ She followed, her mother leading the way to the waiting family automobile, where they were joined by the chauffeur who had accompanied her mother in the search. The sad girl decided she never wanted to grow up if people were like this as adults! She wordlessly slid into the seat beside her mother, who lashed her in unpleasantly tight into her place with the seatbelt. 

As they rolled away from the park, in Mei's secret thoughts, where there existed no endless protocols, she bid her new friend a silent farewell, turning away from her mother's rigid, impassive face, and looked behind her where the park and a kind little green-eyed girl receded into memory.

_She wished her mother allowed her to cry, because, at that moment, that's just what she felt like doing._

Yuzu waited and waited. To her, it seemed forever, although, perhaps fifteen minutes had passed since she had gone gamboling off. She poked her head out to see if she could locate her new friend, but she was nowhere in sight. She wriggled out of her hiding place, a quizzical look on her face, and, walking and spinning as she went, began looking around the park for the little girl! The area of the park she was in now began to look very familiar.

Where could she have gone? Did she grow tired of looking? Did her parents come for her?

 _"I had candy for her!"_ Yuzu thought dejectedly.

"Yuzu!" her mother yelled over to her, from a group of people, one of them a park warden. "Yuzu! Where have you been, baby?" She ran over and hugged her child tightly, tears of relief in her eyes. "It's alright!' she cried out to the group, ' This is her! Thank you so much for your help!" She turned back to the child in her arms, kissing and fussing over her, picking her up in a huge loving hug that had the girl wriggling and laughing in joy.

"Where did you go when Mama turned her back on you, you little mischief?" she asked her with a laugh.

Yuzu's eyes got bigger if that was possible, and her beaming smile melted Ume's heart.

"I met a little girl, she had big pretty purple eyes and we made friends! I was so happy to make a friend, finally!' she said excitedly, 'we were playing games, and I asked her to play hide and seek, and... and Mama,' Yuzu said, suddenly brought back to her quest to find her, 'I was so happy to meet her, I forgot to ask her name, or tell her mine! When I came out of hiding, she was gone, and I didn't even get to say goodbye!" She was sad again, and it showed all over the innocent little face.

Ume looked down to her little one, amazed as always over that big heart in that tiny body. She fluffed her hair, and bent down to give her another big hug and kiss.

"Yuzu,' she explained, 'Maybe she was lost, too, and her parents found her. And I'm sure she liked you and was having a great time... but she just couldn't find you, and had to go with her family."

Yuzu pouted. "I wish we could have said goodbye, Mama. I wanted to have a friend!" She looked up at Ume sadly, a small tear in the corner of one eye.

 _"The innocence of the souls of children! The love, and honesty!"_ Ume thought, her heart melting. She gave the situation careful consideration for a moment, and then wisely explained it so a child could understand.

She put both hands on the slight shoulders and looked deeply and lovingly into that part of heaven that was her baby's profound and damp emerald eyes. "I'm certain she would have liked to say goodbye to you, too, Honey. But some people... They're not mean, or thoughtless, or rude- they just..." 

_"Some people... just aren't good at saying goodbye."_

**Author's Note:**

> This is inspired by those adorable "Little Yuzu" and "Little Mei" pieces in the Citrus Plus Manga. Specifically, a splash panel that had the two of them together with Yuzu drawing on a walk with a chalk stick, whilst Mei had the sweetest smile!
> 
> So I thought... what if?...
> 
> So much inspiration... So little time.
> 
> *************************************
> 
> And now, allow me the honor of thanking you all, each and everyone, for being so kind as to read my little stories! 
> 
> I will always, always love you for that! Believe in the truth of this!
> 
> Always remember that you are someone who is special! Never forget that you are loved and appreciated, and may peace and hope be with you, no matter what dark place you must travel!
> 
> May you all have a joyful 2021, and many more years of blessings to come!
> 
> I love you all...
> 
> TheBroken


End file.
